On a night of comebacks where we saw the Spurs come back from their largest deficit at home to beat the Cavs, we also saw the Bulls down more than 20 in the 2nd quarter and 16 at half come back and just obliterate the Sixers in the 2nd half and overtime by unleashing the Godzilla.

“God” the key word in that one! Jimmy Butler just went insane going 15-30 FG (2-4 3PTM 21-25 FT) for 53 Pts. “Ohhhhhh, look at me, I’m Slim, I get another point on the 30-pt Challenge Board! Do you get double if they score 60, because it was close!” And of course I poked the Slim, texting him earlier yesterday afternoon that Butler might not play, being listed as a game-time call due to a kankle. Yeahhhhh, so much for that. At least I won’t suffer this kind of loss again, as Butler made himself a top-10 scorer last night, upping it to 23.1 PPG. Butler still kept it multi-cat with 10 boards, 6 dimes and 3 steals to top if off. I haven’t been so turned on by a Butler since Michael Caine! He’s also continuing a trend that the second round wings are paying off – Buckets, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Draymond Green… It’s really making some nice parity among the game’s elites so there’s enough to not mind a later draft pick in 16-17, as you’ll be able to nab two solid players at the first turn. It’s going to make next year really interesting… Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy hoops action:

Kyle Lowry – “Hail London!” Except I bet Lowry was asking if the Brits had the baskets at the right height because of some sort of metric system conversion issue… Shot only 5-20, but otherwise was phenomenal to your fantasy numbers going 24/8/7/1/1 with 2 treys, 12-14 FT, and only 2 TO. FG% punt teams are rockin’ out with the Clash there! Meh, I wish I knew more rock history with British bands, best pun I got there…

Cory Joseph – 19 Pts off the bench shooting 9-11. He was born in Canada so he’s used to the metric system…

Patrick Patterson – Starting PF (well, if Paul George moved to SF) on Slim’s all-hate team. 11/7/2/1/2 with no TO, shooting 4-7 FG with 3 treys. This was the kind of multi-cat we could see if he started! But he pretty much played like the starter, ending the 4th and playing OT for 36 minutes. PitPat, I love you!

Channing Frye – Got 4 blocks. I only wanted to mention him because his name translated to Channing Chip in England.

Victor Oladipo – Continued to start at PG even with Elfrid Payton back. Elfrid definitely is no bueno off the Shelfrid, going 4/1/4/0/0 on 2-8 shooting yesterday, with 3 fouls in 20 minutes. RainbOladipo on the other hand went 27/6/6/2/0 with 5 treys in 46 starting minutes. Oladipo owners might want to consider a sell-high though. SKIIIIIIIIILES!

Joakim Noah – Got the start with Pau Gasol resting some minor oldness, and went 6/16/8/2/1. But you throw in those uggggglyyyyy 7 TO (not to mention 3-8 FG, but hey! at least he didn’t hurt FT% in this one going 0-0) and you get the bad with the good. In 8-cat, Noah really has a big opportunity here though.

Nikola Mirotic – Wow. 7/5/0/0/1. And then it gets worse. 2-13 FG and, wait for it… 5 TO!!!!!! I’m no statistical analyst, but I think 0:5 AST:TO ratio isn’t very good… Someone smarter than me out there, run the metrics on that one!

Robert Covington – Pick him up in every league. I did a quick scan and couldn’t get him in any RCLs sadly… Brett Brown before the game said that he was going to play big minutes, and I kinda had a feeling he would have a big game. The subtext of that quote to me reads, “we were artificially holding him back so we can keep tanking, but we’re letting him play his game tonight”. 25/6/1/2/0 on 8-16 shooting with 6 treys. Must-own.

Kawhi Leonard – In easily the game of the night (unless you’re a Jimmy Buckets owner!), Kawhi led the Spurs to 23-0 at home going 20/10/5/1/2 with 2 treys and 6-6 FT. Did have 4 TO, but ya know, can’t complain about Kawhi. Every time I watch him I marvel at how big his hands are. You know what that means!

Tony Parker – 24/4/2/3/1. Might be the starting PG on the Slim all-hate team! Slim really slammed on me saying TP has been bottom end usable on the Pod. That’s what the potty trainer said!

Mario Chalmers – Entering the top-5 in mid-season trades that elevated a player’s fantasy value in the past few years. 25/3/8/4/0 including a game-winner last night. I wonder if the Heat are regretting that move seeing his numbers and having to start their former backup Beno Udrih!

Zach Randolph – Booooooo! Normally I don’t boo when a player plays awesome and gets to start, but T-Dog was killin’ it off the bench! Only 13/3/3/1/0 for Zbo, and not only that, it pushed Matt Barnes back to the bench. At least Barnes caught fire, going 18/3/0/2/0, but 6-7 FG including hitting all 6 of his treys. Why did he take that one 2-pointer, huh?! He was so on fire that I bet Derek Fisher called the cops for fear of arson.

Stanley Johnson – Even though the Pistons scored 101 Pts, it was spread pretty wide and StanJo was the only one of note for me, even though Brandon Jennings played some late minutes over Reggie Jackson. Whatever, not much to see there for me. 19/3/0/2/0 for StanJo, but hit 5 treys in 7-14 FG shooting. He only hit 1 trey his previous 3 games, and 4 the previous 7, so this was an anomaly. A shame this didn’t quite work out like we thought in the preseason.

Rudy Gay – Rampant trade rumors yesterday (apparently got offered straight up for Ryan Anderson – only reason would be for $$$$$$$$$$$), but put on his blinders and hit a game-winner. 24/9/1/3/0. At least if he gets traded, I can reuse my “Don [team name] Now Our Gay Apparel”!

Willie Cauley-Stein – Started, and was meh for 9/8/0/1/1. At least it makes him a streamable big if he sticks. Bad news is George Karl said he likes Omri Casspi as a Swiss army knife off the bench. Hey, he’s Israeli, not Swiss! Casspi still played well hitting 4-6 FG with a trey, but overall an empty 10/3/0/0/0 line in just not enough minuets (26). I’m holding and hoping Karl goes back to Casspi. If not, then Dammit Karl!

Trey Lyles – Career-high 19 Pts last night, off scoring 16 the game before. 19/3/2/2/0, and while I doubt we can rely on anything consistently, at least the minutes are there for now. Derrick Favors will through a wrench in it, if he ever gets back from this back injury… This is lingering so long, that I wonder if there might be a looming surgery. Which would kill a part of me… Even if Favors can return the next game or two, The Bookworm Trevor Booker got a concussion, so frontcourt minutes should be there for the time being for T-Lyle. Deeper league owners might wanna take note.

Lou Williams – If you want consistency, it’s the Sweetness of Lou! Goes ThrAGNOF (21/4/3/0/0 with a trey) with his patented FT volume (10-11).

D’Angelo Russell – 14/2/2/2/0, shooting 6-16 but only 2-10 from deep. Reign it in, D, stick to your range! But the TO are trending down, and I haven’t been more interested in D’Angelo Barksdale since he taught his kid soldiers how to play chess in the Pit.

Larry Nance Jr. – 6 steals! Goes 4/5/2/6/1 in only 23 minutes. Criminal he only got that much run! I haven’t been so turned on by petty theft since Winona Ryder was all over the news…

Kobe Bryant – He played?! Definitely thought he’d sit, but I guess the farewell tour needs to go to Golden State too… 8/6/3/2/1 for a decent multi-cat, but 2 TO on 4-15 shooting. Bleh.

Draymond Green – Ohhhhhh, so he DID play last night! I guess the Warriors realized they can’t sit their team MVP! 7/9/5/3/0, 2-7 shooting, and 4 TO. No bueno in only 27 minutes. But Dray needs to #Occupy his starting minutes, not #Occupy the bench!

Warriors Bench – Does a lot of the dirty work, with Shaun Livingston getting hot (6-8 FG and 5-6 FT for 17 Pts) and Leandro Barbosa making an appearance after sailing on the Black Pearl for a while (5-7 FG and 4-4 FT for 15 Pts). Deeper fantasy leagues with daily moves are going to reallllly need to keep an eye on what the Warriors do at the end of the fantasy playoffs. Might be a lot of these bench guys that are streamable X-factors in your finals.

I hope everyone had a solid week and is looking forward to the weekend! Shoot your comments below, and we’ll see ya bright and early Monday morning Razzball Nation!

Sorry….to rephrase, I would be dealing Bledsoe because i have fallen some since his injury. Need blocks more than points so leaning toward the 2 person offer. Is it crazy to take serge and t jones over the superior Horford?

Hey JB. Wondering what kind of player I can target to sell high on RainBoladipo. Im comfortable in the standings, so I am aiming to solidify my best cats for the playoffs. Any help will be welcome. My team:

Yo JB. I was think about a brewers player I can’t get a road on and figured why not pop.your head in b ball and ask JB. Now before I get to the question I have one little thing to say….crown and coke? How do you ruin sweet beautiful crown with that whore juice. OK sorry. Needed to get that off my chest. Now about my question, taylor jungman? Wtf do I make of that debut. Home road splits made me nauxious and I have an irrational fear of any brewers pitching prospect. Anythehoo. Hope all is well

@J-FOH: Hahaha I got that comment on crown and coke right when I made that thing back in the day, I wonder if it was you! I think I linked to it from a baseball article… I def drink crown straight, it was just the drink that popped in mind when I made that thing, maybe I need a new one. Love from Glenmorangie straight 🙂

Yeah he’s def not that great. I think the K rate goes down, but it is nice he’s a groundball pitcher in that park, really limited the fly balls. I don’t think I’m gonna rank him that well, also on that team, gonna have no run support. Rebuild time in Brew town!

@JB Gilpin: I might of made that before. Probably me. On jungman I was thinking along those lines too. People keep trying to sell him in my dynasties. Now a young cheap buy I like is some conley in miami. If they put Edwin in the pen where he belongs

76ers chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo said that Joel Embiid (foot) playing this season “has never been a consideration.”
“No one’s rushing him back — there’s no reason to,” Colangelo said. “The goal and objective at the start of next season is to do everything we can do to get him in the best position to be successful. Because if he can hold up and he’s OK, he’s a game changer.” Colangelo added that Embiid is ahead of schedule and that he is targeting the 2016-17 season. The big man needs to be owned in all dynasty leagues

@v00dr00: Well it depends on the league. But 10 team probably not, even if you keep a whole 13-man roster. Even 12ers maybe. But any deeper than 156 owned (12 team, 13 rosters spots, I think my math is right!) then yeah he prob should

@Gus: Beal at $5, even with the concern with his health, is the clear #1 for me. Man, second one is tough. Skiles makes me hesitant to say Elfrid. Okafor might be my guy, I think he’s overrated, but at the age and upside I think he’s my #2

@Gus: Hmmmm, yeah a little bit, I mean Beal is too good to be signed somewhere and be like a 6th man, but very likely he’s on another team. Might go the risk of Elfrid over him for the 3 yr contract though

9cat h2h im currently at the top of my standings and I have a well rounded team except punting assists. Should I trade my PORZINGOD for GOBERT? I like the fg% and reb/blks from gobert but unsure because I like my high free throw %. Who do you like better rest of season?

yikes George Hill (personal) questionable tonight, need to stream a PG tonight. who do we like between P Bev (CLE), Larkin (POR), Jameer/Mudiay (MIA), Dellavedova (@HOU), Sessions (@IND)?AST/3’s are important, should probably plan on losing TO. Thanks a lot JB, this matchup is threatening to give me my first loss on the year.

hey buddy thanks for replying on new years
so yeah the korver drop for smart was good for me bc i had bradley while he was injured but now that bradley is back, i have my doubts starting two celtics players in smart and bradley so i dropped smart for pat beverly …. i was thinking larkin for a sec bc he had a good game the other day i think wednesday or thursday,, but with pat coming back and more then likely starting over terry and ty, i went with pat over larkin.. you think thats not bad?
ill keep an eye on larkin if his minutes increase in the next week, then ill have to compare the two,
J/w your thoughts.. thanks buddy!!

@Kris Janko: Any time man, what we do! Hoops all year! Ohhhhh man, Smart was so good last night! Obviously hindsight now makes it look like an easier call but I think I woulda held Smart. I’d rank em Smart, Pbev, Larkin. Sloan really took the lead last night. Any time!

@JB Gilpin: lol yeahhhh i immediately put a waiver claim pbev for smart but exactly, hindsight lol im just hurting on guards bc i got drags and hes out untill at least the 22 so i cant sart him next week, just need a reokacement for atleast a week or two and im stuck between pbev and smart, and theres korver, wroten, ginobili, courtney lee, and the others,

@Kris Janko: Ugh yeah that Dragic injury threw a wrench on a couple of my teams too, even though he’s not a key guy. Yup I’d add Smart, looks like they play 4 games in each of the next two weeks. any time!

@JB Gilpin:
yeah someone got him before me 🙁 im stuck with pbev..wish i stuck to my gut and kept smart lol
im putting AD on the block and i got K Leonard and someone else( i wanted khris middelton but idk if he’ll do i) , another offer drummond and wiggins for AD. might do that one

@JB Gilpin:
yeah i went drummond and wiggins for AD
now who do u think i should drop… Jusuf Nurkic or Bobby Portis,

i heard nikola mirotic is going to be out until after the all star break and i already have pau gasol and taj gibson… so i scooped Portis up for Aminu… who i was planning on dropping in the first place, but nikos injury got me thinking….is Nurkic stilll worth stashing, expesially after wednesdays game when Jokic went out with soreness. so Nurkic or Portis, who to drop? …. im in a tough spot!

Hey JB! got offered Middleton, Horford, Marc Gasol for my Draymond, Whiteside, Vucevic. KMid is killin it these days, you think it’s sustainable to make this trade worth it? really gota improve my FT% and 3s. I’d hate to lose Draymond tho. and i love me some Whiteside (11 blocks today?!), but i still have concerns about his playing time, maturity, etc. And Vucevic is starting to play good ball. Currently sitting 3rd of 14, roto league. I’m number 1 in blocks, and the guy i’m trading to is 2nd in blocks, so there’s a good chance he catches up to me (he’s got Ant as well). Maybe Horford and Gasol can hold down the blocks for now? have a decent lead in blocks anyway. Thanks man, as always!

@Smush9: Yo! Hmmmm that’s a tough trade to break down. Horford and Dray are fairly close in value in roto, and it does help FT% a ton… It actually looks pretty even in stats, you fix FT% but give up some blocks, if your FT% is fixable enough to move 2-3 spots pretty quick, I would do it at the cost of losing that 1 spot in blocks down the road. Any time!

@JB Gilpin: yeah, accepted the trade earlier haha i’m a little concerned about assists, but hopefully the collective of Horford, Gasol, and Middleton will help offset the assists from Draymond. can’t wait to see my FT% rise! hahaha thanks again bro!

In a 14 team 9 cat league with one IR spot.
I have Bogdanovic and Barea that I can dispose. Do you recommend any of PitPat, Lyles, Kamisky, Darrell Arthur for either of them? I am first in the league REB, AST, STL, BLK.
So I guess I am in need of percentage, 3pm, and pts.

Your advice to hold Rodney Hood over everyone I mentioned before really paid off as now as Alec burks is injured, Rodney is balling and is 50% owned. With Derrick favors coming back, I’m worried about the amount of shots Rodney will get to take. I really think I can pull of a trade getting kyle korver but I’m hesitating because of the slump and inconsistency korver gives and I’d want at least 1 steal. per game for a swingman but is this the right move? Other possibilities for hood would be cj miles, joe johnson, demarre carroll (tank his injury?).

Amir has been balling lately and this has been the highest he’s ever been so far. All he needs is minutes tbh but brad stevens is a hoe. The only trade I can consider for him right now is for Robin Lopez but is that the right move or just hold?

After tanking through Tyreke Evan’s Injury, he has brought me nothing but joy and he provides beast multi cat. The only thing is that he could have a potential shut down and that worries me. Should I risk it all and hold him or just trade him away. If not, these are my trade options : Kyrie irving, victor oladipo, Kemba walker, Brandon Knight. I think I can persuade my way through any of these pg’s so can you please rank these 4 tyreke replacements according to your preference and belief.

Im disappointed about greg monroe failing to provide 1 block per game and I’m thinking if I should trade him or hold (is he the perfect fit for my team? can i get something more?). My options are: Vucevic, horford, favors, gobert. Can you, again, rank those 5 (including monroe) please.

Al jefferson’s owner got tired of him and dropped him and I decided to pick him up right away because I’m not risking someone beating me to it and waiting it out. Is it the right move to tank through Al’s Injury (16 team league) or should I just use that slot to waiver stream?

What are your thougths about Wesley Matthews? I was able to buy him low and I had faith in him but he has been giving me nothing but heartaches and shitty %’s so far. I don’t know but maybe I should get Ariza, otto porter, Kent caldwell pope for him. Thoughts?

@Lasandro: I like that order you ranked them. If I trusted Stevens more, Amir might be #1. Mannnn, that’s tough. If I knew Jrue would stay healthy, I def would. It’s a little risky but I don’t mind it.

Gotta vent here: the two only times I’ve picked up zeller in my shallow roto he’s given me two straight games of duds. What’s going on? Look at his game log of late and he’s played great in each game I haven’t owned him! So, once again, he or taj, with Noah now out? Throw in casspi too. He won’t get the d stats but what about volume scoring to go with them rebounds? And ersan too please, cheers

@Lasandro: Haha, well now it’s def close. Geez, you need deeper leagues like the REL these choices are too close! What stats are your needs? I think you gotta go needs based. Taj, Ersan, Casspi, Zeller, Lyles I think in a vacuum, Lyles is pretty far in 5th for me though

@Vidalchow: Oh man, you should listen to the podcast! We’ve brought him up 2 or 3 times lately, big fans of his game. I think he could be kinda like Jeff Teague if he got a starting role, and well Teague of the previous few years not this year haha

@Trophy Tony: Hah seems like a surplus of forwards! Mehhhh, I think with Monroe’s contract I would hold. Green is fairly cheap too (this is the $400 budget league right) so I dunno if I’d do it in a pts league.

Kaminsky or AGordon? 9cat h2h
I know AG has more upside but Kaminsky also does and he’s already showing it.
what kind of stats do you project for both as i see fg% and rebs as the only stata AG has on Kaminsky.

@Tyler: Well Gordon has upside to beat Kaminsky in STL and BLK as well. I’d probably own Kaminsky still right now, Skiles benching him in London was sooooo annoying. Trust Kaminsky’s role sooooo much more.

@Threekola: Cool, man it’s realllly close. Roto or H2H? It’s such an even deal, Horford is my favorite in it, but needing 3s and a little more depth it’s Klay side, I think it’s a coin flip and since it helps your needs it’s a win.

Yeah this definitely solidifies. Also, you think there is some added upside since Luke Walton said he doesn’t plan on resting Klay, claiming he “never gets tired”? WHen Curry/Dray rest, he should go off, no?

Side note: Oladipo….the second he gets his minutes back, this happens. I just lsot my playoff spot this week, what do you think I should do with him?

@Threekola: Cool yeah it’s prob a good deal for both teams. Yeah I’d imagine Klay has the least risk for DNPs given he’s a shooter and all. Certainly helps his chances for big games but I dunno if they’re assured. Ugh, well I’d probably hold Oladipo unless you got near draft day value back, I’d rather IL him if you can

@patrickindo: Thanks for reading man! Yeah Kobe shutdown would be nice for Clarkson, I def imagine he gets a lot more run and usage late. Hmmm I dunno if the Mavs really need a C that bad, McGee looking decent helps with the length. Kinda depends on what you’d get for Pachulia, I think anything pretty close to what he’s done so far (def seems he’s overachieved) would be worth it if it helps your needs. Thanks man, what we love about it too!

@Johnc: Hmmm between Mudiay and Pbev for me, might drop Mudiay since you’re FT punt already and don’t need the drain on TO which you look good in and FG%. Mehhhh, Korver is barely ownable, I’d likely hold

So, my old man asked me about an offer he received and I am now passing it down to you guys for a second opinion.

He is being offered Wiggins, Gobert, and Harrison Barnes for R Jax, Marc Gasol, and Randle. This is a keeper league that is reaching its final season next year.

He inherited a team that has fantastic guard depth, but his FT percents are being bogged down by DeAndre. I told him that I think he should counter for the same deal but substitute DeAndre in place of Gasol. I’d think the other party involved would rather have DeAndre anyways since he already has a punt FT build with Drummond and Rondo. Thoughts?

@Ryan: Haha cool. Aight so final year of keepers… Man it’s close, I like Gobert over Gasol in a vacuum, but the rest favors R Jax side. Definitely would do the deal with DeAndre in it, I think that’s a great counter. Nooooo, Rjax and Gasol aren’t enough volume to fix that FT%, it’s probably in that other owner’s best interest to full punt…

Hey JB, I have Rubio in my team. Do you recommend replacing barea with lavine? They both have chance to play when rubio or williams is out. So given that chance of starter getting hurt seems pretty even, which do you think will produce more?

Jeff Green is also on the wire. Can you rank these guys in order?
Thanks!!

@Bammers: Hmmm, Lou isn’t too valuable long-term, Fournier has some upside though. I can’t imagine you need too much depth in a 10er, who would you be dropping? If benches are fairly deep and you need some depth, it seems like a good trade

PatPat has been playing pretty well on the eye level the past 3 games or so. Minutes have been up as well. Unless Scola goes full Fiba on the NBA then I think PatPat gives them the range that Derozan and Lowry need to operate. Although, I would love for Casey to actually give Bennett some minutes. I know everyone sees him as a bust but damn he does have some Big Dog Glenn Robinson upside to him. I hope they give the guy a shot. Is he a no. 1 pick? I don’t think so (wtf was Gilbert thinking) but I do think he is serviceable. I mean, Milicic was serviceable to borderline awesome for a few games with the Wolves his final years in the league!

Question for ya tho, need convincing my team can actually compete in my big money league. Waited too long to make a move and I’m def in danger of missing the playoffs given that its half the season already. That said, I did move Chris “PointGod” Paul for Lowry and Jrue a few days back and here is my team.

Thoughts on making some moves? Thinking of letting Gasol go (albeit risking the yummy playoff sched, THANKS SLIM BTW) in order to go full punt FG. Any person you have in mind? I’m thinking I go for Hayward but I’d be selling low but his skill set fits my team.

@draco21: Yup he’s looking better! Hah well I dunno if Bennett ever gets that much run on the Raps, I do think he could be 16er worthy in the right spot. But it’s not any time soon. Nice move for Lowry! Takes away some risk. Hmmm yeah going Fg punt makes a lot of sense with this team. What about going for Porzingis?

@Tim: Yeah I don’t think he’s changed at all since last year, so he should be top-3ish ROS. But Cousins will be like 8-9ish and we just called Kemba a top 25 player on the Pod, he’s the big Xfactor for me

I have been offered anthony davis and jared Dudley for my nikola vuchevic, rudy gobert and devin booker. At first i thought this trade is nice but the more i think about it i am actually losing more value? Was it the right choice to reject

Would you trade away favors/porzingis (it’d probably be better to give away porzingis rather than favors but giving favors evens out my ft% a bit) and Wes Matthews for Whiteside or gay and Wes Matthews for Pau? The 2 for 1 deal will allow me to pick up guys like a Gordon, smart, Tony Allen, Sloan, pj tucker and eventually big AL and demarre..what do you think? Thanks